Alai's notable novel
Red Poppies, published in 1998, follows a family of Tibetan chieftains, the Maichi, during the decade or so before the “liberation” of
Tibet by the
People's Liberation Army in 1951. Their
feudal life in the Tibetan borderlands, narrated by the youngest "idiot" son, is described as cruel, romantic, and full of intrigue (with the
Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China presented as a great advance for the Tibetan peasantry).
Red Poppies won the 5th
Mao Dun Literary Prize in 2000 and was selected as a finalist for the
Kiriyama Prize in 2002. ==Bibliography==